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5 September 2016

Book Review: Destination India by Katy Colins

"Starting the Lonely hearts Travel Club was supposed to be the second chance that gave Georgia Green back her life. She thought it would be just like travelling, but the reality is far from rosy as she realises that starting a new business is definitely not a beach!

So when Georgia finds herself on an impromptu work trip to India she knows something’s got to give! Where has the girl gone who fought so hard to rebuild her life?

The land of Bollywood, gorgeous beaches and the Taj Mahal might just hold the key to Georgia finding her stride again… Only she is about to find out that when in India the country calls the shots – not you. But Georgia’s not going down that easy!"

RATING: 4/5

After thoroughly enjoying Katy Colins' debut novel Destination: Thailand much earlier this year, I very much looked forward to reading the second book in the series, entitled Destination: India. I really loved the characters and was looking forward to the second outing to see what was happening with them. Also, I was curious to read a book set in India, somewhere I would love to travel to but a holiday like that is years off at the moment, so I have to settle for reading about it in books!

Georgia has enjoyed setting up her own travel business, The Lonely Hearts Travel Club with her friend Ben who she met on her travels, but things haven't quite gone to plan. Georgia feels like she's working all the time, to the point where she is ignoring her family and friends due to work stress. When she finds out one of her tours is getting bad press online, she decides the best way to rectify the situation is to go on the tour to India herself... but not tell any of the other clients who she is. Will Georgia be able to pull it off and sort out the tour, or will it all finally come crashing down around her shoulders?

As I mentioned, this is the second out for Georgia and co, so while this could be enjoyed as a standalone story, it works better if you read it after the first book as that sets the scene for Georgia's life, what has happened to this point and how she came to set up her business. I liked the fact that when we joined her, things aren't all rosy and working perfectly - it felt realistic that she was becoming bogged down in the running of the business, and how stressed she was seemed to reflect many people's mindsets when they work for themselves. I did want to give Georgia a bit of a shake and tell her to ease up on the workload and put other things first, but I calmed down and read on, sure that Katy Colins would pull everything together perfectly for me.

The setting of India in the book was glorious, and Katy really brings it to life on the page with her words. You can fully imagine the wonderful scenery, the city, the hustle-bustle of the people, the sights, the smells - everything is written so vividly, and when you couple it with the images you've probably seen on the television and the internet, you can certainly imagine everything that Georgia is seeing and experiencing in your mind as you read along. I have to confess not all of it sounded ideal of course, and I would definitely miss the creature comforts of home but experiencing a totally different culture like that sounds wonderful and I enjoyed how Georgia immersed herself fully into everything she tried.

The other characters on the tour were interesting, and I feel there were a good spread of people on it with Georgia, all determined to get over their own broken hearts. As well as this main storyline, there's a bit of a 'will they, won't they?' with Ben and Georgia going on, but since neither of them seemed capable of admitting how they felt, I wasn't very hopeful, especially when Georgia insisted on taking charge of everything and not relaxing one bit at all! However, I kept reading on in a vain hope that the two might see what was in front of them, and I enjoyed the development of this storyline very much.

Overall, this was a very successful second outing for Katy Colins and her characters for her 'Destination' series, and I really liked catching up with Georgia again to see what she was up to this time, and how things were going for her. Luckily, there is going to be a third book called Destination: Chile so I will certainly be reading that one when it's released. This is a really fun book, I loved the writing and Colins' style is really enjoyable, and the first person narrative works so well, allowing us to really experience India along with Georgia, as well as her emotional ups and downs as well. A really enjoyable book, definitely one if you aren't off on your travels this year and fancy a bit of escapism!